Orochimaru
Orochimaru (大蛇丸, Orochimaru) was a major antagonist in the Naruto series. Recognised as one of the most powerful ninja Konohagakure ever produced and one of the "Three Legendary Shinobi" (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin ), he operated as an ANBU shinobi in the village within the Root faction prior to his defection from the village in pursuit of his own self-serving ambitions. Background Orochimaru was an orphan who became a pupil of Hiruzen Sarutobi alongside Jiraiya and Tsunade. Compared to the more laid back Jiraiya, Orochimaru stood out as a prodigy — his talents, knowledge, and determination were considered by Hiruzen to be that of prodigy seen once in a generation. According to Tsunade, Orochimaru had a twisted personality even as a child. His sadistic attitude was presumably due to the death of his parents. At some point after losing them, Orochimaru found a white snake near his parents' grave, with Hiruzen explaining how it represents fortune and rebirth inspiring Orochimaru to study kinjutsu and obtain knowledge of all techniques. Jiraiya theorised that Orochimaru went down this path in an attempt to forget his painful memories. During the Second Shinobi World War, Orochimaru joined Jiraiya and Tsunade in fighting Hanzō, who gave them the title of Konoha's "Three Legendary Shinobi" (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin) as a reward for surviving their battle with him while the rest of their group were easily slaughtered in the process. On their way back to Konoha, they encountered three Amegakure orphans with Orochimaru proposing a mercy killing before Jiraiya chose to train them instead.Some time after Team Hiruzen was disbanded, Orochimaru became an ANBU member and joined Root to work directly under Danzō Shimura while becoming a mentor to Anko Mitarashi. It was during that time that Orochimaru met Kabuto Yakushi while accompanying Danzō in forcing the boy's guardian Nonō for a mission. While Orochimaru's ambitions did include becoming the Fourth Hokage, he intended to use the title for his own agenda. Though Hiruzen knew the potential evil his former pupil had in him, he hoped to stir Orochimaru from the path before slowly realising that he is beyond anyone's help. Sent on a mission by Danzō to Iwagakure to ensure both Kabuto and Nonō, the former joining Root as a spy, kill each other as they have become major risks. Orochimaru, instead, spirited Kabuto to his hideout, what would become part of his personal hidden village Otogakure, and reveals Root's intent on his life and the role he was to play in it. Though Orochimaru reveals that he was also sent to kill the one who survived this ordeal, he reveals to Kabuto that he sees a bit of himself in the boy and sees killing him to be a waste of great talent. Therefore, Orochimaru offers Kabuto a position as his right hand and spy with the promise of an identity.9 With Kabuto's assistance, he performed various experiments on his prisoners, some being fellow Konoha shinobi he kidnapped. He uses them as human guinea pigs to develop techniques that would grant him immortality, the end result being Living Corpse Reincarnation. Some time after, Orochimaru was at the outskirts of Kirigakure as he found Kimimaro, the sole survivor of the Kaguya Clan. Soon after, thanks in part to Kimimaro, Orochimaru's research on the source of Jūgo's powers led to him into finding the Ryūchi Cave and mastering senjutsu.10 Unable to use it because of the fragility of his host body, Orochimaru instead developed an alternate method through the cursed seals, testing it on Anko and his other students before using the finalised versions on Kimimaro and the Sound Four. When Hiruzen finally retired and named Minato Namikaze his successor, Orochimaru saw no more reason to remain in Konoha and began to be less discreet with his actions. This led to his experimentation on the cultivation of Hashirama Senju's DNA with sixty children he kidnapped to recreate the First's Wood Release techniques, having already done so with Danzō while endowing the elder with multiple Sharingan. However, as his test subjects begin to die off, Orochimaru was found red-handed by Hiruzen who knew it was his duty to kill him yet lacked the will to do so. Leaving Konoha and his emotionally broken mentor, despite Jiraiya's pleas for him to reconsider falling on deaf ears, Orochimaru was unaware that only Yamato survived his experiment. Orochimaru soon joined the elite criminal organisation Akatsuki, his role unclear but was partnered with Sasori whom he did much good for the Akatsuki with. However, when Itachi joined Akatsuki after conducting the Uchiha clan massacre, Orochimaru saw his opportunity to steal his body to gain possession of the Sharingan. Itachi used his Sharingan to reverse it while cutting Orchimaru's left hand off to prevent him from breaking the genjutsu, causing him to leave the Akatsuki to acquire a new body. For Orochimaru's defection, Sasori developed a grudge and used Kabuto, whom Orochimaru sent to serve as his spy with the Akatsuki, to counter spy as his sleeper agent. However, Orochimaru discovered this and undid the brainwashing. Orochimaru's other goals include the life-long search for the Totsuka Sword, an ethereal sword, but was unaware that it was in the possession of Itachi's Susanoo. Personality Orochimaru was often described as twisted by a large number of people, including Tsunade. Jiraiya speculated that this was due to the fact that both of his parents died when he was at a very young age, along with his horror for Tsunade losing Nawaki and later shedding tears when she lost Dan, imply that Orochimaru grew to disdain the fragility of human life and how it affected those still living, which lead him to desire immortality. To that end, the primary purpose of Orochimaru's human experiments is to test what modifications the human body could endure and harness a subject's unique abilities for himself. Once accomplishing this goal, Orochimaru had hoped to be worthy of the title of "ultimate being", unable to die and able to achieve his secondary goal to learn every ninja technique in the world that would normally take many lifetimes to obtain. According to Sasuke, becoming cruel with any good he had as a member of Team Hiruzen gone, Orochimaru's agenda made him develop a god complex and valued himself while delighting in striking terror in his first impressions. Though causing conflict to ease his boredom, Orochimaru seems to have no interest in wars started by others. His charisma also attracts a number of followers, many of which he would not hesitate to send on potential suicide missions if for his own personal benefit, expressing some remorse if unable to properly complete a task. However, as shown in the anime, Orochimaru can callously discard those whom he become bored with despite having commissioned for them personally, such as the underwater ninja project and Guren's Crystal Release. Taking Sasuke as an apprentice, seeing a him as a prodigy like himself, Orochimaru intended to take the youth's body to obtain the Sharingan to reach another step in his goal of immortality. This goal has developed to the point of obsession. However, despite knowing that Sasuke is willing to do anything for revenge, including sacrificing his own body, Orochimaru did anticipate treachery from his disciple and showed only a small level of surprise when it actually occurred. Orochimaru also initial disdain toward Naruto Uzumaki, believing him to be poor excuse of a ninja until he defeated Kabuto with the his Rasengan. Despite attempting to kill Naruto at the time after coming to the realisation that he would become a threat to him in the future, Orochimaru became interested in Naruto's development, provoking Naruto during their battle to see his full abilities at the time. Though coming to hate his home village, orchestrating a few attempts to destroy it, Orochimaru despised his former Akatsuki colleagues more. Throughout Part II, if Orochimaru was not busy with Sasuke's development, he would try to cripple the Akatsuki's operations, seen in the "Sai and Sasuke Arc" as well as the "Three-Tails Arc". He express delight over the death of Sasori and later convinced Sasuke from killing Team Kakashi so they would thin out the Akatsuki membership. Abilities Being one of the Sannin, as well as a former member of the S-rank criminal organisation Akatsuki, Orochimaru is an extraordinarily powerful ninja, being Kage-level in his own right. He was also considered as a child prodigy that appeared only once a generation. His skills were so great that during the time of his invasion in Konoha, the Third Hokage feared no one in the village would be able to defeat him or even fight on equal footing with him, even himself, and that Orochimaru was supposedly strong enough to take down a small nation all by himself. Even Kakashi, one of Konoha's greatest shinobi, was filled with tremendous fear when he met him during the Chūnin Exams, and himself admitted that he wouldn't even stand a chance against his power. Sasuke Uchiha and Suigetsu Hōzuki also stated that his victory over Orochimaru was only because the latter was already severely weakened prior to their confrontation. He was able to hold his own against a four-tailed Naruto in Part II while his body was in a weakened state, and despite the danger Naruto imposed, he found the battle highly entertaining, even playing with Naruto's initial three forms. Even then, his body gave in, he expressed regret that he couldn't complete the battle. Even among the Sannin, he was the one who originally stood out for individual ability. Due to him rarely being shown fighting, he has only displayed a limited amount of techniques, although it stands to reason that in his efforts to learn all existing techniques, his array of abilities has probably become larger than any other single person, and has vast knowledge in all forms of techniques. His fighting style is very fluid and he is nearly invulnerable to most conventional techniques, even being bisected couldn't even slow him down. He even survived a direct punch from Tsunade's monstrous superhuman strength and all it did was damage the skin that made up his face mask. He also has immense strength in the anime, as when he was walking to Tanzaku Quarters, he was immensely frustrated by the pain he was in and used only a kick to knock down a tree. Intelligence From his childhood days, Orochimaru was identified as a genius shinobi and a once-in-a-generation prodigy. During his lifetime, his associations with powerful shinobi and groups, such as his tutoring by the Third Hokage and his stints with both the Root and Akatsuki organisations and later his solo exploits into gaining knowledge, allowed him to develop and gain access to vast amounts of information. Orochimaru is a master planner and manipulator. For years, he evaded capture from both Konoha and the Akatsuki, all the while setting up a network of fully supplied hideouts throughout various countries. He was also able to manipulate the entire village of Sunagakure into invading Konoha, by posing as the Fourth Kazekage without anyone noticing, having killed the real one weeks before the invasion. He was capable of manipulating multiple people into becoming his willing pawns and guinea pigs for his experiments, using a combination of manipulation, insight into a victim's past and the promise of power to gain their loyalty. The greatest examples of this are Kabuto and Kimimaro, who idolised the Sannin and showed nothing but absolute loyalty and respect for him. He even developed a fail-safe in case he was ever killed or sealed in the form of his cursed seals. Due to his desire to obtain all known ninja techniques, Orochimaru developed extensive research work throughout the years, performing experiments on multiple individuals and on himself to comprehend their abilities or develop new ones. Such examples include him discovering the workings of Jūgo's clan abilities and his subsequent development of the cursed seal, the modifications done to his own body, the extensive research done to Hashirama's Wood Release and infusing these powers on Danzō Shimura among many others. This wealth of research has proven to have devastating effects long after Orochimaru's death, as seen through Kabuto's performances during the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Due to this research, he is easily capable of deducing the working of an enemy's techniques and fighting style. As a researcher, Orochimaru is also a very skilled teacher, being capable of recognising a person's potential and bring it out in relatively short amounts of time. The greatest example of this is his training of Sasuke, where in little more than two years he was able to develop the young Uchiha's abilities to the point where he was capable of going toe-to-toe against several high-level shinobi. Ninjutsu Wishing to obtain all of the techniques in the world, Orochimaru has a vast arsenal of techniques at his disposal, ranging from simple offensive ones, which nonetheless become deadly when performed by him, to higher ranking, more complicated ones. In the anime, of the few techniques he was seen using is the Earth Release Shadow Clone, which creates a copy of himself out of mud that can attack on his behalf. He is also able to use Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, through which he can level a wide area with a powerful gust of wind. In terms of defensive techniques, Orochimaru uses both Summoning: Rashōmon and Summoning: Triple Rashōmon, in which he summons a varying number of large demonic gates that are capable of enduring even the most intense forms of damage. If need be, he can also place a Five Elements Seal on an opponent, sealing off their access to chakra and thus, rendering them useless in battle. Orochimaru can also use a technique to merge with a surface to avoid damage, and another one to temporarily paralyse an opponent. Orochimaru is one of the three people capable of performing Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation, which allows him to reincarnate the dead. The technique was developed but left incomplete by the Second Hokage, and Orochimaru himself completed the technique. To perform the technique, Orochimaru must sacrifice a living human so that the soul of the deceased person can be tied to the living world. The sacrificed body is then surrounded with dirt and dust that compacts into the shape of the summoned soul's original body. Although the reincarnated retain their original memories and personalities, thus leaving them out of the control of Orochimaru. However, he can suppress their free wills with his own special seal to force them to do his bidding. The bodies of the resurrected are also able to regenerate any wound, meaning the only way to truly defeat them is to remove the soul within them. Orochimaru is also very adept in Transformation Technique as he was able to view Sasuke's battle with Yoroi Akadō during the Chūnin Exams without any suspicion. He was also able to pose as the Fourth Kazekage for weeks fooling the entire Suna, even its elite shinobi and the ones closest to the dead Kazekage. Immortality Technique In his quest to gain immortality, Orochimaru has made a number of modifications to his body, resulting in his natural form taking on the appearance of a giant, white snake composed of many smaller snakes. The snakes that compose Orochimaru's body can extend themselves to strike and bind the targets, and if Orochimaru is sliced to pieces, the body simply can reform, making him very difficult to kill. Also, the blood that is released by killing the snakes is also poisonous, evaporating into the air and paralysing anyone who has breathed it in, something that makes long lasting fights against him a bad choice. The primary use of the form is with his Living Corpse Reincarnation, which allows him to transfer his soul to another body and extend his life indefinitely. To use this technique, Orochimaru leaves his former body, revealing his true form. Once he has done this, he swallows the new body and transports its current inhabitant to a dimension within himself where he absorbs them, thus allowing him to take over their body. Orochimaru can only perform this technique once every three years, which is also around the time that his new body begins to reject him and forces him to find a new host. Although he might leave their bodies behind, the souls of those whose bodies he has taken always remain within Orochimaru's subconscious. After taking over another body, Orochimaru modifies it to suit his theme of snakes, in order to increase his survival capabilities, such as stretching and bending his body, reconnect his body from bisection and shedding his skin to heal injuries. Thus, even if Orochimaru is unable to transfer bodies, he can easily heal and evade attacks rendering him virtually immortal. Orochimaru also alters the face of his host body to look like his original form. His last method for immortality would be his cursed seals themselves. Since each cursed seal is mixed with Orochimaru's chakra, part of his consciousness inhabits the seal, allowing Orochimaru to retain some consciousness even if his original body is destroyed or he himself is sealed. By doing this, Orochimaru can interact with his host and share their senses. By combining a piece of his DNA with an individual who bears one of his cursed seals and using the Evil Releasing Method, Orochimaru can be completely resurrected any number of times, as long as there is enough seals and pieces of his DNA. Snake Techniques Orochimaru's trademark trait is his affinity with snakes that, in addition to impacting the appearance and composition of his true form, and granting him the ability to extend his limbs to abnormal lengths and to take on snake-like traits in battle, caused him to learn a number of snake-related abilities, including learning Sage Mode. His snake-related techniques have been referred to as Power of the White Snake. One such ability is being able to summon giant snakes to fight alongside him in battle, made possible by the summoning contract tattooed on his arm. His signature summon was Manda, a colossal snake which was described as the largest in the world, with immense fighting capabilities. With Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, Orochimaru can instantly call forth snakes from his sleeves and mouth to attack opponents in large numbers with poisonous bites. A stronger variation of this technique was the Many Hidden Shadow Snake Hands, in which the summoned snakes grow noticeably in both numbers and size. Another usage of snakes comes in the form of his signature weapon, the Sword of Kusanagi, the Kusanagi of Japanese legend. The sword, kept within the mouth of a snake within his own throat, is able to extend to great lengths to attack enemies that are very far away, could be controlled remotely by Orochimaru, and can return to him by turning in a snake. Although he is capable of wielding the sword normally with great proficiency, it's not uncommon for him to use it without ever removing it from his mouth. The sword is stated to be able to cut through almost anything, and despite failing to penetrate four-tailed Naruto's chakra shroud, did push him back an incredible length. He is also capable of having numerous Kusanagi-like blades sprout from the mouth of the snakes he summoned. His strongest technique is the Eight Branches Technique, which allows him to transform into an eight-headed, eight-tailed giant serpent bigger than the already colossal Manda, another reference to the Japanese myth. This was described as the ultimate snake-related technique, which turned the user into an immensely powerful "Dragon God". Senjutsu When conducting research about Jūgo's clan, Orochimaru eventually tracked down the source of their power: the Ryūchi Cave. It is assumed that here he was trained by the White Snake Sage in senjutsu and attempted to learn how to use Sage Mode. However he was unable to use this power to its full potential due to the frailty of his host's body, making it an inviable option for battle altogether. However he does have enough knowledge to both release another person's Sage Mode and absorb the senjutsu chakra inside them as seen with Kabuto. To compensate for this flaw, Orochimaru developed other novel uses for his senjutsu chakra: the cursed seals. Combining this chakra with the enzyme produced by Jūgo, he was able to create these unique seals, which triggered a change near-identical to that of the Sage Transformation, but with different benefits and drawbacks. The senjutsu chakra locked in these seals is naturally quite powerful as Kabuto was amazed at a portion of Orochimaru's chakra he absorbed from Anko even after he assimilated the collective DNA of team Taka, the Sound Five and of Orochimaru himself. These seals also carried the additional benefit of acting as anchors to Orochimaru's consciousness, allowing him to observe events through anyone branded by the seal and even revive him any number of times under the right circumstances. Stats Category:Characters